Hobbies
by fiercesunshine
Summary: Cid Highwind, being a man who was mechanically inclined, liked to fix things when he was bored. However, he's run out of things to fix. What's a guy to do? Find a new hobby, of course! Valenwind, Cid being silly, Vincent being practical, & animals. HIATUS
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer:** Do not own. At all.

Cid Highwind, being a man who was mechanically inclined, liked to fix things when he was bored. With all the excitement after the Deepground incident over and Vincent Valentine safely found (and living with him in Rocket Town, nonetheless), the Captain was becoming bored more and more often. This wouldn't have been much of a problem, although admittedly irritating, except for one thing.

Cid Highwind had run out of things to fix.

It was to be expected, really. In a town full of mechanics and scientists, there was very little to fix – everything was in perfect working order, and anything that wasn't was very quickly fixed. It was only when Vincent, having taken his gauntlet off so he could shower, tore apart the entire house looking for it only to find Cid trying to tinker with it that it became a problem. It became so much of a problem, in fact, that Cid was booted out of his room and onto the couch for the night.

"But Vin— "

"No, Cid."

That night, as he lay on the couch waiting for Vincent to wander downstairs and take pity on him, Cid Highwind came up with a plan. He would win the fight against boredom if it killed him.

--

Vincent was worried. After the previous night's events (which included Vincent coming downstairs and molesting the pilot on the couch, which quickly turned into on the floor), Cid had been unusually quiet. Deciding that the pilot was probably planning something, Vincent went to pick up a book and read it – only to look over and realize that Cid was reading the newspaper.

Vincent dropped his book.

Cid never read the newspaper. Hell, Cid never read _anything _– any of the books in the house were either Vincent's or the few that Shera had left behind. Pausing, Vincent remembered Cid finding a romance novel and loudly reciting the sex scenes.

Okay, so other than that time, Cid never read anything.

Not only was Cid reading the newspaper, but he had a pen out and seemed to be circling a few things. Staring at him in shock from the other end of the room, it took Vincent a moment to recover before he cleared his throat.

"Oh, hey there Vinnie!" Hastily folding the newspaper, Cid strode across the room and kissed Vincent's cheek. "Look, I gotta run a few errands. I'll be back later, okay? Love ya."

It was only after Cid left that Vincent realized he'd taken the newspaper with him.

--

When Cid got back, it was around ten o'clock that night, but the blond man didn't come in until closer to one. Vincent had been pacing their room, checking out the window every so often to try and catch a glimpse of the brash pilot. Cid, however, must have been on the other side of the house closest to the rocket's original launch site (which was now a field), because even Vincent's keen night-vision couldn't detect him.

"_This could be trouble,"_ Chaos grumbled, irritably shifting his wings within Vincent's mind. Curled up, Galien Beast let out a rumble of agreement.

"There is no reason to think that. Perhaps he simply had work to do," Vincent replied. At this stage of their relationship, the gunman had learned to trust his lover, and it wouldn't do to give in to doubt now. However, as Cid finally crawled into bed with him, Vincent wondered just what it was that had kept Cid from him all day. After all, it wasn't like Cid to be so secretive…

Vincent sighed, snuggling into his already snoring bedmate before shutting his eyes. He would, doubtlessly, find out tomorrow.


	2. Chapter 2

And now the strangeness begins.

**Disclaimer:** Do not own... dammit.

* * *

Vincent Valentine awoke the next day to find that Cid was already up and about. He could smell tea downstairs, but it almost smelled stale, like it had been made hours ago. Rolling over, Vincent groaned. It was only seven-thirty in the morning, and by the looks of things, Cid had been up since at least five o'clock. Stumbling into the bathroom, Vincent didn't hear the slight mutterings of his demons as they began to place bets on what it was that their favorite pilot was doing.

--

Having showered and eaten a quick breakfast, Vincent winced as he approached Cid's shed in the back of the yard. He didn't find himself out here very often, and even less in the man's shed. The shed doubled as Cid's machine shop, where he fixed and fiddled with just about everything, and the pale gunman didn't want to disturb that. However, a large amount of swear words were escaping the shed's open windows, and that more than anything else drew Vincent to it now.

Vincent wasn't sure what he was expecting when he opened the door. A broken-down car that shouldn't have been able to have run at all, much less break down, or perhaps Cid was experimenting with rocket engines to make the Highwind even faster. What he was not expecting, however, was to open the door to see Cid chasing a small chocobo through what seemed like an endless maze of crates.

"Come back here, you damned little – YOWCH! Peck me, will ya? C'mere, you." Hauling the chocobo (who was, Vincent noticed, light blue) off the floor and shoving it into an open crate, Cid dusted off his pants and then looked up.

"Cid. What are you doing?" From the blush on his face and the way Cid began rubbing the back of his neck, it was clear that he hadn't expected to be caught.

"Er… hey, Vince. You're up early."

"It's already eight o'clock, Cid. How long have you been up, since five?"

"…Four, actually. Damned tired, too. Little pests have been takin' advantage of it."

"And why do you have these… 'little pests', as you call them?"

Cid laughed slightly. "Well, I figured maybe it was time to pick up a new hobby. I remembered the way you an' Red were always trying to Sense whatever we came across, an' I figured that now that th' rocket's gone we got all this space…" Taking Vincent's hand, Cid brought him to the back of the shed and had him peer through the window. "I put a fence up an' figured we could start a little farm."

Vincent stared at him blankly for a minute. "Cid. You're a pilot. An excellent pilot, but a pilot. I'm an ex-Turk who shares body space with four demons. What do either of us know about farming… or animals in general, for that matter?"

"Ah, c'mon Vinnie, it won't be too hard. Look, I put up a big ol' fence already for the critters. Besides…" Cid moved into the sea of crates and bent down. Vincent heard a slight snap as a latch was unhooked, and then found himself staring into the warm brown eyes of a shaggy red-brown dog. Wagging its tail, the dog nuzzled his hand as Cid came back to him, grinning broadly. "He seems ta like ya."

Vincent felt himself melting slightly as he bent down to pet the dog more thoroughly. "Alright, Cid. We'll try it."

Kissing him on the forehead, Cid smiled at the two of them before straightening up. "Okay then. Vince, you an' Rusty – that's the dog's name, had it since he was a pup so I ain't gonna change it – go that-a-way. I'll unlock this next one from the top."

Vincent paused as he (and Rusty) appraised the crate Cid was referring to. Through the air holes, he could have sworn he saw yellow eyes peering back at him. But that was crazy… Cid wouldn't have…

Just then, Cid opened the crate.

"A Tonberry, Cid? Don't you remember how many times those things tried to kill us?" At Vincent's side, Rusty growled his agreement, hackles raised and teeth bared.

"Well… I thought they were kinda cute…" Cid said sheepishly as the Tonberry raised its knife towards Rusty.

"Cid. He has a knife. A very large, very sharp, very dangerous knife."

"Oh, alright, I'll put him back on the Highwind and bring him back to the Crater."

Slamming the door on the Tonberry just as it began to wave its lantern, Cid latched the crate and turned to face Vincent, who was suddenly beginning to wish he hadn't agreed to the idea so quickly. "I think I need to see the other creatures that you chose."

In the back of Vincent's mind, Chaos raised an eyebrow before stroking Galien Beast, soothing him much like one would soothe a cat that had just encountered a dog, but said nothing.


End file.
